Pat Tillman Foundation » Newshttp://pattillmanfoundation.org
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:59:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1Jon Andrews Receives WMS Hackett-Auerbach Awardhttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/jon-andrews-receives-wms-hackett-auerbach-award/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/jon-andrews-receives-wms-hackett-auerbach-award/#commentsSat, 08 Mar 2014 19:07:46 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=558We are proud to announce that Tillman Military Scholar Jon Andrews, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with U.S. Army Special Forces, is the recipient of the prestigious WMS Hackett-Auerbach Award from the Wilderness Medical Society.

Jon is a third-year medical student focusing on anesthesiology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC. The WMS award provides a $10,000 grant for his 3rd Year Project: The Effect of Riociguat on Gas Exchange, Exercise Performance and Pulmonary Artery Pressure during Acute Altitude Exposure.

Over the next year, Jon will work with Dr. Richard Moon in the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine & Environmental Physiology at Duke. The drug they are researching, Riociguat, was just approved by the FDA in October for treatment of two forms of pulmonary hypertension. Testing will be done in a hypobaric chamber with barometric pressures and inhaled oxygen adjusted to simulate an actual altitude of 15,000 feet.

“We conducted our first trial of the study this March, so it’s really exciting to finally be underway after so much initial preparation and paperwork,” Jon said. “Ultimately, we hope that this new drug will be something that can help improve exercise performance in military units that conduct operations at high altitude.”

In addition to his medical research, Jon actively supports the Durham community as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow; the fellowship helps medical students conceive and implement year-long service projects to address the root causes of health needs in underserved communities.

Jon’s fellowship project, in collaboration with Duke medical student Nicholas Tsipis, helps youth at Durham Nativity School address the safety and preparedness of their community during a disaster situation when basic medical supplies are scarce and emergency medical services aren’t readily accessible.

As a team, Jon and Nick are teaching students how to prepare for and respond to a disaster, conduct patient assessment, perform hands-only CPR, and apply simple wound dressings. They are also helping students write family disaster plans, signed by all members of each student’s household, as well as build disaster kits with as many items needed for preparedness for their homes.

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/jon-andrews-receives-wms-hackett-auerbach-award/feed/0TIME: Forward Marching, After Warhttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs-2/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs-2/#commentsMon, 03 Feb 2014 18:55:01 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=138Where do I go from here? Veterans stripped of a sense of purpose and mission often find themselves asking that question once they leave the service after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With objectives complete and platoons disbanded, former military members are left to their own devices—and tremendous potential is either realized or squandered after billons invested by U.S. taxpayers.

‘Potential’ was the watchword at the Pat Tillman Foundation’s Leadership Summit last week in Chicago. And this year’s crop gathered in what could be the most impressive collection of young veterans and military spouses out there.

Ivy League MBAs and future doctors and lawyers were interspersed with urban planners and social workers—a defiant rebuke to the idea veterans can only excel in rigid military-like structures.

The non-profit group, which has raised $4.1 million in scholarships for 290 veterans and family members, held its scrum for new and current Tillman scholars at the downtown campus of Roosevelt University.

These groups represent a tectonic shift in the veterans community. The preexisting model for a veterans group was one of charity, of baseball ticket giveaways and sappy commercials to assuage the perceived pain of broken bodies and souls. The new crop of veterans organizations—profiled recently in a Time cover story—doesn’t ask for anything except the next opportunity to serve.

Each Tillman scholar was chosen precisely to build on a life of service. For Samuel Innocent, a former Army combat medic studying biology and political science at the City College of New York, he just had to look to his past to solidify his future.

Raised in a single parent household in Brooklyn, Samuel was rudderless after stints at Wal-Mart and college before enlisting. After seven years in and a deployment to Afghanistan, he’s back to serve neighborhood kids just like him—left to the odds of coming out strong with just one parent in the picture.

“Once you have that attitude that instilled character to serve your nation, to contribute to the greater cause, the greater purpose,” he said. “It never leaves you.”

Sam’s adaptability moving from home to home helped tremendously in combat situations, when imperfect information in a hostile environment translated into a fluid and unpredictable operations tempo.

But his outlook for the kids in his neighborhood—where he hopes to stay and earn either a Master of public health or work as a physician’s assistant—has moved from adaptability to stability. The mentors he accrued in and out of service lead him to be a mentor himself, where his time is compounded into something meaningful in the lives of children in a crossroads of life.

“For some of these kids, it means the world to be able to have something,” he said.

The need to tell the stories of the scholars was strongly emphasized during the summit, with a panel and workshop for writing. Veteran authors articulated the process and described their inspirations. Media outlets and popular culture often view the veteran experience through a distorted lens, so a direct route to books and the op-ed page can help reshape the discussion on veterans without the middleman.

Scholars mingled in between panels and breakout panels, with discussions swirling about their programs and future perhaps even more than their common threads of war experience.

The summit was fittingly capped with a service project on the south side of Chicago, where scholars converged to revitalize facilities used to house the homeless, including veterans.

Marie Tillman, who co-founded the Pat Tillman Foundation after her husband’s death in Afghanistan, explained that the scholars embody his tenets of service and community, culminating in service projects throughout the year.

For every scholar that rotates through the program, a conduit of enormous potential heads once more unto the breach to impact and transform the lives of others.

“I love to chat with them, to hear about where they’ve been,” she said. “But also where they’re hoping to go.”

Alex Horton is a public affairs specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he writes for the department’s blog, Vantage Point. He served for 15 months as an infantryman in Iraq with the Third Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division.

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs-2/feed/0The Guardian: The US army is more than PTSD and sexual assaulthttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/the-guardian-the-us-army-is-more-than-ptsd-and-sexual-assault/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/the-guardian-the-us-army-is-more-than-ptsd-and-sexual-assault/#commentsFri, 24 Jan 2014 20:15:42 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=240The past couple of weeks have not seen good press for the US military. Ironically, right after a massive report on sexual abuse within the force was released, brass announced a wave of investigations and arrests of leaders and service members whose job it was to fight these very problems.

The revelations of sexual assault and harassment are only the latest in what has been a steady stream of bad news for the military. After a decade of war, we’ve read over and over about PTSD and mental health stigma, suicide, unemployment and extremism within the ranks. Without question, as a military, we have issues that we need to address.

But the things that I read about on a daily basis – all of these problems – while present and important, do not reflect the reality of what I see and experience as a soldier. In other words, this is not my army.

Yes, we’re growing and learning as an organization. We’ve been at war for over a decade, and are adapting to a rapidly changing world. America’s expectations of who we are and who we should be are also changing, and with that, problems are bubbling up to the surface that have been long ignored – and we are addressing them. But this fractured force that I read about full of misfits and miscreants is not my army.

The army I serve in is composed of brave men and women who joined the force during a time of war, fully knowing they will likely be placed in harm’s way. They’ve seen the veterans coming home with missing limbs and those who struggle to transition back to civilian life – and they still choose to sign the line. These are men and women who are unafraid to be patriotic at a time when doing so often seems out of fashion, and even looked down upon. They live the Army Values, and are just as shocked to learn about the scale of the problems we’re facing as a force – and as a nation – as the rest of America. And we want to get better. This is not a group of broken and sorry soldiers, fumbling along and victimized.

The army I serve in shows up every day and works, focusing on daily drills with a watchful eye on global hotspots, listening to the talking heads nonchalantly discuss “boots on the ground”, waiting for the call to be whisked away again to some far off place. Talk of an “Asia Pivot” or a return to a “garrison army” falls on deaf ears to the family saying tearful goodbyes to their loved one at an airfield, or to the soldier heading to Helmand province for a year. This is not to make light of the difficult problems we must face and fix, but it’s important to recognize that we here on the ground see the work being done to fix them.

Even with these problems, the men and women who serve in our armed forces represent the absolute best our country has to offer. They are our greatest resource – the less than 1% who choose to do a difficult and often thankless job. They sign up having no real idea what they are committing to – a complete investment of mind, body and soul that they can’t possibly understand until years later, after the careful reflection of hard-earned wisdom. The things that carry them forward are only an inkling of the pull of duty, a nagging yearning to do more and deliver a precious gift that too few give to their country.

I’m writing this because I don’t think that we are getting a fair evaluation. Or rather, that the heavily slanted negativity simply does not reflect what it’s like to serve. It’s an honor and a privilege to be daily surrounded by the most amazing Americans I have ever known, every single day.

I don’t show up to work in the morning and dig myself out of mental health issues, thoughts of suicide, fears of unemployment or anxiety over sexual assault, or whatever else becomes the issue of the day. We cannot do enough to help the service members whose days are clouded by these issues, but they are not the colors of my experience or of many others. Rather, these problems represent another piece of the giant puzzle of military life, just as they do in American life writ large.

America expects us to be the best, and at the risk of sounding pompous, we’re pretty damn good. We will fix our problems because because that’s simply what we do. We learn, we improve, and we take care of our own. We won’t ignore our issues, and though the change will probably hurt a little, that’s just fine – we know the rewards of working hard at self-improvement.

Through it all, I know that I serve with special men and women who make this country great and will do so long after they take off the uniform.

Tillman Military Scholar Don Gomez is a graduate of the City College of New York and an officer in the United States Army. Twitter: @dongomezjr

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/the-guardian-the-us-army-is-more-than-ptsd-and-sexual-assault/feed/0NBC NEWS: Left behind: Afghan translator dodges Taliban on long road to Americahttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/nbc-news-left-behind-afghan-translator-dodges-taliban-on-long-road-to-america/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/nbc-news-left-behind-afghan-translator-dodges-taliban-on-long-road-to-america/#commentsFri, 24 Jan 2014 20:08:22 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=232The Afghan interpreter hid for his life, hunted by the Taliban for helping the Marines. His punishment, he says, had already been savage – the murder of his father and the abduction of his toddler brother. He believes he was next on the hit list.

For three years, Mohammad, 24, evaded those he called “the bad guys.” He huddled with seven siblings and his mother at a secret location in Pakistan, yet worried the Taliban would track him there. He worked via email and cellphone with his former Marine captain – and some 70 other Americans – to achieve one goal: safe passage to the United States.

He filed forms with the U.S. government. He answered interview questions at an embassy. He endured background checks. And starting in 2009, he waited, snagged in a bureaucratic thicket, wondering when the bad guys would snatch him.

On Jan. 15, Mohammad finally held his ticket to salvation, a U.S. visa. The refugee expected to fly out in days. When he inspected the document, however, he saw three letters that he feared might hamper his escape: The embassy had listed his last name as “Mohammad” and then printed “FNU,” meaning first name unknown.

Courtesy Of Adrian Kinsella / NBC News

Adrian Kinsella, on patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He worked with Afghan interpreter Mohammad while serving for the U.S.

‘Thousands of cases languishing’
Some 100,000 Iraqis and Afghans are estimated to have worked for U.S. troops, contractors, journalists and diplomats during the wars, say advocacy groups like the List Project, which to date has helped bring about 1,500 of those Iraqis to America. Many were spotted and tagged as traitors by insurgents, al Qaeda, or the Taliban. While there is no formal tally, the List Project’s founder, Kirk Johnson, estimates “thousands” of those men and women were assassinated after the troops left.
“I know Iraq seems ancient. But these people are still marked, still known as those who collaborated with the United States. I don’t expect that stigma will wear off for quite some time,” said Johnson, who authored a memoir, “To Be a Friend is Fatal: the Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind.”
A fellow advocacy group, the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), keeps a roster of crimes against Iraqis and Afghans who once helped U.S. interests. Each account has been vetted, said Katie Reisner, IRAP’s national policy director.

A fellow advocacy group, the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), keeps a roster of crimes against Iraqis and Afghans who once helped U.S. interests. Each account has been vetted, said Katie Reisner, IRAP’s national policy director.

That catalog includes an Iraqi woman who worked as a U.S. Army translator. After being conditionally approved for a visa in February 2012, she received death threats via phone and text. Two months later, a pair of men broke into her home and threatened to rape her, according to the IRAP. She escaped and went underground. Congress eventually questioned the State Department about her case, and she was granted a visa in June 2013.

There’s more in the IRAP files, like the Afghan man once employed by the U.S. Army who applied for a U.S. visa in June 2012 yet still lives at a secret location in Kabul. Taliban fighters have told his father that if they find him, he will be executed. And there’s the Iraqi man whose company supplied U.S. troops. In March 2013, his home was firebombed, causing the man and his family to flee. Their visa applications are pending.

One of the most famous cases involves Marcus Luttrell, a former Navy SEAL whose final mission is told in the movie “Lone Survivor.” In 2005, an Afghan villager, Mohammad Gulab, discovered Luttrell, severely wounded in a firefight. Gulab sheltered Luttrell from the Taliban. But since then, Gulab has taken his wife and children into hiding to escape Taliban retribution. Luttrell has been trying for years to obtain a green card for Gulab so he and his family can resettle in America.

Mohammad (name withheld for security reasons) describes what it feels like to finally live in America.

How large is the backlog of similarly endangered Iraqis and Afghans seeking U.S. visas?

In 2008, Congress authorized 25,000 special immigrant visas (SIVs) for Iraqis who’d helped U.S. interests. The SIV program was designed to give them a fast track to the United States. In 2009, Congress approved 8,750 SIVs for Afghans who’d performed the same work. Those numbers, Reisner said, reflect congressional assessments on how many people needed to urgently get out.

Based on the most recent State Department figures, 6,675 Iraqis have received SIVs while 1,678 Afghans got the special visas, Reisner said. That leaves 7,102 unfilled Afghan SIVs and 18,325 unfilled Iraqi SIVs – presumably, some 25,000 people.

That backlog, Reisner asserts, has two causes. First: concerns among officials at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security that a terrorist could slip in via the program.

But the larger problem is an “uncoordinated” bureaucracy, Reisner said, that stretches from U.S. embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan back to the federal government, snagging thousands of people in “a process that is prohibitively complicated.”

The SIV programs will expire at the end of September, say White House officials who dispute the advocates’ assessments.

“While there are several thousand applicants currently at some stage of processing, there are not 25,000 backlogged cases,” Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House, wrote via email. “For those cases that are in the pipeline, agencies involved have been working to speed up our processing to the greatest degree possible while ensuring U.S. national security is not compromised.

“The White House strongly supports the Iraqi/Afghan SIV programs, as we recognize that many who have been employed by or worked on behalf of the U.S. government in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families, face serious, ongoing threats as a result of their U.S. government affiliation. We take these threats, and the safety of those who work with us, very seriously, and we are committed to providing this benefit to those eligible.”

But at the List Project, founder Johnson sees “no real urgency in Washington,” and “zero leadership on this at the White House.”
“So there are thousands of cases languishing in a broken bureaucracy, and the White House’s reaction is ‘yeah, but at least it’s not 25,000!’ ” Johnson wrote in an email.

“The Iraqis and Afghans upon whom we depended are losing faith in the ‘process’ that people in the White House have been ‘speeding up’ for years now.”

In response to Johnson’s remarks, White House spokeswoman Magnuson cited two laws signed by President Barack Obama during the past 30 days, each separately pushing out the SIV application deadlines to Sept. 30 for Iraqis and Afghans once employed by American forces — people who now live under threat, waiting for entry into the United States.

“We have worked with Congress to obtain extensions to ensure that there is adequate time to complete processing of those within the system,” Magnuson said, “and for additional potential beneficiaries to have the opportunity to apply to these very important programs.”

L to R: Adrian Kinsella and Mohammad walk to get Mohammad’s first American meal, a hamburger in Berkeley, Calif., while talking with a friend on his phone and telling him he is now safely in America.

Marine Capt. Adrian Kinsella, 28, waited Monday with 25 friends at San Francisco International Airport. He had worked nearly four years to bring to America the interpreter he had once employed — a young Afghan man who repeatedly alerted Kinsella whenever the Afghan villagers they encountered during patrols appeared to be lying or hiding lethal secrets.

Nicknamed “Yoda” by Kinsella’s platoon, the interpreter had twice ducked enemy gunfire with the Marines. They ultimately adopted him into the platoon “as one of our own,” said Kinsella, speaking as a private citizen. The Marines eventually went home. The interpreter stayed, weathering the murder of his father then the kidnapping of his 3-year-old brother – Taliban retaliation for his collaboration.

Now, the interpreter -– whose first name is Mohammad — was inside the airport, clearing U.S. Customs. He was safe.

Kinsella instructed the greeting party to form two tight lines. Many had worked with Kinsella to secure Mohammad’s visa.

As Mohammad emerged bone-tired from three days of air travel. Kinsella bear-hugged the man.

“Welcome home, brother,” the Marine said.

Mohammad’s eyes were wide. Days earlier, before his journey, he’d had a vivid dream about waking up in America.

“I thought maybe I was dreaming again. But it was true,” Mohammad said later, describing his arrival. (He asked that his last name not be published to protect his family. They remain in hiding to avoid Taliban reprisals.)

“I cannot repay Adrian for everything he did for me. Without Adrian, I would not be here,” Mohammad said. “My dad got killed by those bad people, and since that day, we didn’t have a good day because every day I was worried about my family and about myself. I mean, the bad people (could have found) me easy.” Mohammad’s father, a potter and tailor, was killed by the Taliban in 2009 after they discovered his son was working with U.S. forces. About a month after his father’s murder, Mohammad began the paperwork to obtain a special visa to escape Afghanistan.

Following the crimes against his family, Mohammad had packed his seven younger siblings, his mother and all of their possessions into a vehicle and fled to Pakistan. Once each week, Mohammad, 24, ventured to a market near their safe house to buy food, hoping nobody would recognize him and tip off the Taliban. He also waited for U.S. officials to approve his visa.

In 2010, Kinsella, home from Afghanistan, had received an email from Mohammad. The interpreter asked his old Marine friend if he could try to expedite his stalled case. While in Afghanistan, Kinsella had agreed to sponsor Mohammad’s special visa application. But Kinsella dug again into the paperwork. After three years of bureaucratic delays, Kinsella wrote in September 2013 to two senators to request their assistance. Kinsella’s friends simultaneously wrote letters to their congressional representatives — 11 members in all agreed to help. The team to bring Mohammad to America grew to span 70 people across the country.

“He is the poster child for the SIV program,” said Kinsella, who also is a Tillman Military Scholar, studying law at the University of California, Berkeley.

“We’re taught as Marines: never leave a brother behind. As an American, it was embarrassing to tell him: ‘I will get you safe, I will get you here,’ and three years later, I was still fighting for that,” Kinsella said. “After we left the airport together, I kept looking at him in the car, part of me still not believing he’s here. It took so long. I was to the point where I thought it was never going to happen.

“Now, we have to take care of his family and get them here. They’re obviously in danger.”

Kinsella has invited Mohammad to live with him in Berkeley. The Marine recently spent time decorating what would become his friend’s bedroom, affixed an American flag to the wall. The flag – symbolizing the finish line – is threaded with irony, Kinsella acknowledged.

“Half of that is the seemingly unattainable promise we made to him and half is the good side of America – all of the people who have been bending over backwards to help us fulfill that promise,” Kinsella said. “That flag, you could say, is bittersweet.”

NBC News’ Shawna Thomas contributed to this report.

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/nbc-news-left-behind-afghan-translator-dodges-taliban-on-long-road-to-america/feed/0Angela Durko receives Texas A&M’s Vice Chancellor’s Award for graduate student teachinghttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/angela-durko-receives-texas-ams-vice-chancellors-award-for-graduate-student-teaching/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/angela-durko-receives-texas-ams-vice-chancellors-award-for-graduate-student-teaching/#commentsThu, 23 Jan 2014 00:16:18 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=203COLLEGE STATION – Angela Durko, a graduate student in the department of recreation, park and tourism sciences at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, has been presented a Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence in the Graduate Student Teaching category.

Established in 1980, this awards program recognizes the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife. Durko received the award Jan. 9 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Centennial Conference held in College Station.

“She not only provides students with extraordinary learning experiences in the classes she teaches, she is also active in crafting creative innovations that significantly enhance the quality of experiences of our students,” noted department head Dr. Gary Ellis in his nomination of Durko.

Durko has taught “Foundations of Tourism” as teacher-of-record for three semesters. She also served as graduate teaching assistant for that class for two semesters. The class provides an introduction to the tourism industry and to management and marketing practices in that industry.

“Given the vital importance in our program and in students’ lives, we assign only our most effective and engaging faculty members to teach that class,” Ellis wrote in his nomination. “Angela has succeeded at a level commensurate with that of our most talented tenure-track professors. Although the class enrolls over 100 students per semester, she quickly develops personal connections with her students. Her passion for the subject and for the students quickly becomes evident.”

The award nomination also cited her “two creative and noteworthy innovations” to expand learning opportunities for students.

The first of these innovations was her leadership in the Legends in the Texas Travel Industry Speaker Series, which brings managers and marketing professionals from some of Texas’ top attractions to the Texas A&M campus. These “legends” speak to classes and meet with small groups of faculty and students, who gain insights into management practices, marketing strategies and industry trends and issues.

The second of Durko’s innovations noted was her work with professors at institutions in Afghanistan and Dubai to organize multiple virtual visits to campuses and communities on other continents. This program connects Texas A&M students with those from different cultures so they may achieve deeper understanding of those cultures and might be inspired to seek actual study and/or work abroad experiences.

“Ms. Durko represents the very best of what it means to be an educator,” Ellis said. “Our current students are receiving life experiences that invite them to exciting careers in tourism, hospitality and recreation. Future students will benefit for many years from the exciting programs that Ms. Durko has developed.”

In a letter of commendation supporting Durko’s nomination, Shayna Russell, now a senior at Texas A&M wrote: “Ms. Durko’s enthusiasm, encouragement and knowledge about the field persuaded me that this is indeed the right field for me. While I feel blessed to have had excellent instructors during my time at A&M, she is undoubtedly one of A&M’s finest.”

Russell also noted that even though it was a large class, Durko knew every student’s name and would call on them at random to ask for their opinion.

“She was literally available 24/7 to answer our questions or to assist with problems whether they were for school or not,” Russell wrote. “She is still available to assist me even though I took her course semesters ago. Ms. Durko is so connected to her students, she made us feel special in the classroom, and brought the RPTS principles to life.”

In addition to her graduate student teaching at Texas A&M, Durko has served as state public information director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development; risk-reduction coordinator for General Dynamics in Ansbach, Germany; co-director of the United Services Organization in Balad, Iraq; journalism instructor at Troy University of Alabama; and USO marketing director in Okinawa, Japan.

Her award and honors include a Graduate Student Council Travel Award in 2013; Gene Phillips Scholarship, Texas Travel Industry Association and Gamma Sigma Delta International Honor Society of Agriculture in 2012; and Rho Phi Lambda Honorary Recreation, Park and Leisure Fraternity in 2011. She also has received a Pat Tillman Foundation Scholarship each year from 2010-2013.

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/angela-durko-receives-texas-ams-vice-chancellors-award-for-graduate-student-teaching/feed/0Marie Tillman discusses her final gift from husband Pathttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/marie-tillman-discusses-her-final-gift-from-husband-pat/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/marie-tillman-discusses-her-final-gift-from-husband-pat/#commentsThu, 23 Jan 2014 00:09:32 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=199On the day she was informed that her husband was killed in 2004, Pat Tillman’s wife also discovered a “just in case’’ letter that he had left her before his deployment to Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Ranger.

The contents of that letter have helped Marie Tillman continue with her life for the past eight years after that devastating day. The former NFL star became one of the most high-profile casualties of the war on terror after it was determined that he was killed by friendly fire. In her new memoir, “The Letter,’’ Tillman reveals the Pat Tillman she wants the world to know beyond the tough guy exterior.

During an interview with NBC’s Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY Monday, Marie read aloud from the “just in case’’ letter that Pat left behind for her before leaving for Afghanistan.

“Through the years, I’ve asked a great deal of you,’’ the letter reads. “Therefore it should surprise you little that I have another favor to ask. I ask that you live.’’

Moved by the events of 9/11, Pat and his brother Kevin enlisted together in May 2002, shortly after Pat’s wedding with Marie. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and then Afghanistan in 2004, leaving behind the letter that has given his widow strength.

“It’s funny because that sort of simple request I feel like has taken on such different meaning over the course of years,’’ Tillman told Hager.

Marie now runs the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides educational scholarships for veterans and their spouses. Last year, she married Joe Shenton, and they had their first child, Mac Patrick, in January. They live in Chicago with Shenton’s three other boys from a previous marriage.

“I don’t know if he knew what he was doing when he left that letter,’’ Tillman said about Pat. “But it was really a gift for me to know that it was okay. It was okay for me to move forward and to live my life.’’

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/marie-tillman-discusses-her-final-gift-from-husband-pat/feed/0Illinois guardsman, pursuing doctorate, honored as military scholarhttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs/#commentsSat, 11 Jan 2014 17:51:18 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=130After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Illinois Army National Guard, Sgt. 1st Class Blake Schroedter knows how difficult it can be for young soldiers to transition from the battlefield to life back home.

“You’re 21. You don’t really understand what you’ve gone through,” said Schroedter, who enlisted as a high school senior just before 9/11 and at age 20 was fighting in Iraq. “You really don’t have time to reflect.”

Now 30 and pursuing a doctorate in psychology, Schroedter counsels former service members at the Evanston Vet Center. He and fellow students at Chicago’s Adler School of Professional Psychology are also working on a treatment program to help veterans manage and work through stress.

Schroedter, who’s still in the Guard, will be honored for his service and course work at Sunday’s Bears game as the NFL-Tillman Military Scholar. The annual award is named after Army Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals player who was killed in Afghanistan.

“(Schroedter) has really lived and breathed that code of service,” said Marie Tillman, the soldier’s widow and president and co-founder of the Chicago-based Pat Tillman Foundation, which partners with the league for the award. “He’s served in the military and continues to do so, but also his educational focus is really on how can he help the veteran community and how can he help those who he has seen struggle.”

The treatment he and classmates are developing — a modified mindfulness meditation stress reduction program — could be tested on service members as early as next year. The program allows veterans to use a computer or mobile device to work through the stress that many experience after returning from combat.

When Schroedter came back from Iraq, he said he sought mental health counseling but dropped out after one session. His therapist wasn’t a veteran, he said.

“I just didn’t feel that connection,” said Schroedter, who grew up in Newton, in southeast Illinois. “It’s kind of hard when someone says, ‘I can imagine what you’ve been through.'”

As someone who has been through battle and can empathize — not just sympathize — with the horrors of conflict, Schroedter believes that he can help combat veterans work through psychological issues. That experience also serves him well in the classroom, said Adler faculty member Grady Osten-Garner.

“Having prior service, he really brings a lot of life to the classroom,” said Osten-Garner, coordinator of the school’s military clinical psychology track for doctoral students. “His professional experiences really do help to inform the curriculum.”

After graduation, Schroedter said, he hopes to serve as a clinical psychologist in the National Guard while also working with veterans in a hospital or clinic. Osten-Garner, a former Army reservist, called Schroedter a “rock star” student who “has a really well-regarded career behind him and just a tremendous career ahead of him.”

“I would serve with this man any time,” Osten-Garner said. “I would love to have him in my unit. I’m very impressed with him as a soldier and a student.”

]]>http://pattillmanfoundation.org/helping-veterans-land-jobs/feed/0Losing My Father at War, One Letter at a Timehttp://pattillmanfoundation.org/illinois-guardsman-pursuing-doctorate-honored-as-military-scholar/
http://pattillmanfoundation.org/illinois-guardsman-pursuing-doctorate-honored-as-military-scholar/#commentsFri, 10 Jan 2014 17:58:33 +0000http://pattillmanfoundation.org/?p=134“War does not determine who is right — only who is left.” That’s what Bertrand Russell said.

I didn’t know what he meant when I was 20 and heading to war. Now, at the age of 28, it makes too much sense. A sense that I am left but that my father is gone.

My dad was a soldier once, too. He was drafted and shipped to West Germany in 1953. The worst thing that ever happened to him was that a German soldier broke his nose with the end of a rifle. It was the only war story he’d ever tell.

My father is still breathing and still talking about that jerk who shattered his nose. But Alzheimer’s eats away at his brain. He forgets my name. But he remembers our wars. Except for mine.

Throughout my deployment to Iraq in 2005, we exchanged e-mails. Tap-tap on a keyword. Words with no emotion and no context.

Jan. 4, 2005:

How are you? Mom and I ate at the Fountain last night. We showed Pat and Nancy your picture with Robin Williams. Pat said if you keep this up you’ll be in Hollywood! Oh, by the way, Mom and I got new bathrobes last night, finally! Mom got a pink one and mine’s plaid! Hope things stay quite there but with the elections coming up I doubt it. You are our “pride and joy.” Love you always and always.

Love you so very much,
Dad

A plaid bathrobe? He talked about things that I didn’t know how to care about anymore. Young Iraqi children ran around me naked with swollen feet, dusty, thirsty — everything suddenly seemed trivial, including plaid bathrobes.

These days, watching the old men with soft white hair walk around Washington in their khakis, crisp white polos and loafers — I see him. Thinking he might be coming back. I smile for a moment. And sometimes I wonder: if I had cared more about what he was going through, would he still be here, mentally? Maybe not.

March 14, 2005:

Dad is O.K. He just has a stomach virus. Needs rest. Not to worry and stay focused. He’ll be fine.

Love and miss you,
Mom

It’s funny to read this e-mail now, because my mom was such an awful liar. I tried to pull it out of her.

March 14, 2005:

Mom, if anything’s up tell me. I’m not playing games. Whatever it is, it won’t stress me out anymore then you not telling me what’s going on. Understand? So, please just let me know. O.K.?

Love you!

It was a secret. My dad’s mysterious illness. My mom’s inability to communicate. My hopelessness in trying to understand the impact of my war on them. We were all misfiring. There was no connection between any of us. All we had were encoded e-mails and short phone calls.

March 24, 2005:

No stroke, no cancer. When you lose so much weight from too much drinking and not eating, your electrolytes and vitamins are all off. It affects your muscles – that’s why Dad’s walking is such a problem. Dr. B. said Dr. L. talked to Dad today. He said Dad is in a very depressive state. But that can be solved with meds. He just HAS to get a grip. I never knew this [your deployment] would affect him this way.

Always,
Mom

“Get a grip.” What a strange thought. Iraq was falling apart. My dad’s memories of us, our life were all fading away. My mom was in denial. Get a grip. What a beautiful idea.

May 3, 2005:

Dad’s O.K., just talked to him. He sounded like himself. I guess that’s how this illness goes. Was going to go see him today but the oil light came on in the car. I didn’t want to chance it. Mike’s going to check it for me and put some gas in. I still have to learn how to do that. DON’T LAUGH.

Always,
Mom

And I laughed. I laughed so hard I began to cry. At the age of 56, she didn’t know how to pump gas. I cried because of how ridiculous this was and I cried because I knew she was all alone.

May 5, 2005:

Dad is in his new room now. He’s in room 37. I talked to him a little while ago and he doesn’t like it. Nothing I can do about it.

Love,
Mom

There was nothing I could do, either.

When I boarded the C-130 to come home in 2005, I peered out the window and gave Iraq the middle finger. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t ready to go home. I could envision the hell I’d be walking into: a gasoline-soaked mother and a father who could remember his war, but possibly not my own.

I walked off the plane. I weaved through people like I was on speed. I was home. It didn’t feel right — because I knew my dad was no longer there.

Kate Hoit works in the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She is also an M.A. candidate in nonfiction writing at Johns Hopkins University, where she is a Tillman Military Scholar. She deployed to Iraq in 2004 as a photojournalist. Follow her on Twitter.